2022 - A Year in Review

 It is the end of another year. It has seen the purchase of my first home, relocating to another part of the country - well, another part Lancashire - and starting a new job. But onto the more serious stuff. Here I want to discuss my ramblings and wanderings. This year I have completed more Wainwrights than I have in any previous year and embarked on more wild camping than ever before. Hopefully a sign of things to come as we enter 2023.  By my reckoning, I have walked 31 new hills this year. Some of these are barely definable as hills, such as the miniature Worsaw hill near Clitheroe, which stands as a small child next to its proximate neighbour Pendle. On the other hand, I have trodden over beasts of Lakeland such as Great Gable and Harrison Stickle. 

Let's begin by tallying the Wainwrights. I have bagged 25 this year. This started in the spring with a short stay in Keswick. Catbells was the first. Considered by many to be a Lakeland classic. Its popularity is understandable given its accessibility, modest height and fine views over Derwent water. During this stay I also visited Walna crag and Barf. Barf was an interesting experience. Up the slopes of the fell is situated a large rock painted white. The reason for its being painted is that in 1783, the Bishop of Derry, who had been staying in the area, tragically fell to his death whilst attempting to ride his horse up the fell. Locals keep this history alive by painting the bishop's rock to this day. 

Shortly after the trip to Keswick, I made what is becoming an annual visit to Wasdale where I camped a couple of nights in the national trust owned camp site. On day one I visited Great Gable, Green Gable, and Kirk Fell. This was a truly memorable walk, especially for the visit to Great Gable, which is such a multi-dimensional mountain. Of course, it has the dramatic views, but also the history, with a war memorial on the summit and its crags and outcrops played an integral role in the history of Lakeland mountain climbing. Coming down Kirk fell at the end was a bit tiring though. I picked my route down its slopes toward the Wasdale Head Inn for the eminently logical reason that there was a pint awaiting me at the bottom. But boy was it steep. More than once did I slip on the scree. But I thought myself in luck when I stumbled (almost literally) upon a bag of unopened crisps as a staggered like a wounded Bambi toward the bottom. Oh, I forgot to mention, at the time, I was experiencing sickness and an aching head which unbeknownst to me were the first stages of covid. The next day, I managed one fell before heading home: Whin Rigg, a fell which stands next to ill-gill head, both of which peer down to Wast Water beneath. 

A lot of the fells I completed this year were whilst on wild camps. My first of the year was on stickle tarn, though we did not venture to the top of any summits. The second was on the summit of Blencathra. Last year we camped on scales tarn below the summit of Blencathra, but it was great - albeit exhausting - to stay on the top. There was a fell race taking place as we walked up Blencathra from Mungrisedale. And deep into the night, a lone fell runner visited the summit, much to our surprise. She said she'd already visited Skiddaw and planned to be still on the run when dawn approached! I have been on top of Blencathra a couple of times before so this was not a new bag. But I did venture to Bannerdale Crags on the way back down and I summitted Carrock Fell before going up Blencathra. Carrock is very interesting. Near the summit there are the remains of an iron age hill fort. It was also where Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins got lost on a guided walk, as described in their book The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices which I read earlier this year. 

As I mentioned, I visited stickle tarn earlier in the year. But as I described in my previous post, we also camped on the summit of Harrison Stickle in nothing but our sleeping bags given the extremity of the weather. We had a dip in stickle tarn and on route back, bagged Pavey Arc. Our final wild camp of the year was on Hallin fell, a small fell with a very large square cairn overlooking ullswater. Before we set up camp, we walked the Fusedale round. This included Steel Knotts, Wether Hill, Loadpot Hill, Bonscale Pike and Arthur's Pike. My final hill of the year is arguably not really a hill. Humprey's Head stands above the coast of Morecambe Bay near Grange-over-sands, where I was recently on holiday. Wainwright explicitly declared it not to be a fell. Ironically, however, it does feature in his book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. And given that the "outlying Wainwrights" (as distinct from the "Wainwrights" which are only those fells subject to a chapter in one of his seven volume pictorial guides) are now a classification of hill/fell that peak baggers attempt to tick off, I feel inclined, with minor reservations, to include this as my final hill of the year. 

Only a handful of the fells ticked off this year were not Wainwrights. After recovering from Covid, I ticked off Waddington and Easington Fell in the south of the forest of Bowland. These fells are very local to my home. They are situated right next to one another and are virtually the same height. Easington is marginally taller, hence it being classified as a marilyn at the expense of Waddington. I also ticked off White Hill in the forest of Bowland. I ticked off my first hill in Northumberland, the tiny Greensill Hill near Cuthbert's cave. Though small in stature, the hill provided fine views to the coast out toward Holy Island and Bamburgh castle. On a short stay in the North York Moors I bagged Carlton Bank. 

So what does 2023 have in store? I spent the first two days of the year bagging hills. On new year's day, I walked up the miniscule Billinge Hill in Blackburn, Lancashire (not to be confused with the hill of the same name near St Helen's which is the highest point in Merseyside). This wooded hill has the distinction of being situated near a monument of Wainwright (Blackburn was Wainwright's birthplace and home before moving to Kendal). The following day, I walked from the village of Hapton, near Burnley, up to Great Hameldon. I plan on ticking off at least 25 Wainwrights this year, along with many other hills and fells. I am making my first foray into fell running with a couple of races already booked. I am doing the Everest Anywhere challenge, which involves totting up enough metres of ascent to equal or surpass the height of everest over the course of the year. Most importantly, I am just going to do my best to spend as much time in the outdoors as possible.